Los Angeles: A body camera showing a Barstow police officer wrestling and handcuffing an eight-months-pregnant woman has sparked outrage and calls for justice.

The ACLU released the video last week showing the officer placing a pregnant Charlena Michelle Cooks’ hands in cuffs behind her back after she dropped her daughter off at an area elementary school.

Cooks had refused to fully identify herself during her initial contact with the officer for an alleged road-rage incident, so he moved in to arrest her.

“Do not touch me. I am pregnant. Do not touch me,” she told the officer as he grabbed her arms

Cooks was then wrestled to the ground as she screamed, “Please, I am pregnant! Please stop this!” Cooks was face-down on the ground.

“Imagine getting wrestled to the ground and handcuffed in front of your child’s elementary school,” ACLU Southern California staff attorney Jessica Price said in a statement. “Imagine interacting with other parents afterwards.

“Imagine what kids who saw the incident tell your child,” she continued. “And if you think the whole incident happened because of your race, how does that impact your view of police?”

Cooks is black and it appears the officer is white.

The ACLU says Cooks’ arrest was unlawful because California law does not require a person to provide an ID and a person can refuse.

“Even if an officer is conducting an investigation, in California, unlike some other states, he can’t just require a person to provide ID for no reason,” ACLU SoCal staff attorney Adrienna Wong said. “Officers in California should not be using the obstruction law, Penal Code 148, to arrest someone for failing to provide ID, when they can’t find any other reason to arrest them.”

The January 26 arrest was sparked after a school employee claimed she was the victim of a road-rage incident involving Cooks. The employee alleged Cooks punched and threw an object at her car in the school parking lot.

Cooks, 29, denied attacking the woman and said she was the one who felt threatened. At that point, the officer asked Cooks for her name, but she refused.

“I actually do have the right to ask you for your name,” the officer said.

Cooks was not convinced and told the officer she was going to look it up on her cellphone.

“Let me make sure because I am not about to get harassed by the police,” she said.

As she talked to someone on the phone, the officer approached Cooks and grabbed her arm.

“They are trying to touch me,” she said to the person on the phone.

The officer grabbed Cooks as she urged them not to touch her because she is pregnant.

But the officer handcuffed Cooks and wrestled her to the ground.

“You say you’re pregnant, so go ahead and cooperate so we don’t have to get hands on,” the officer said.

Cooks was arrested for obstructing justice, but the charge was dropped, according to San Bernardino County Superior Court records.

The Barstow Police Department told KCAL-TV that Cook “actively resisted arrest” and denied that the incident was racially motivated.

In an interview with CNN, Cooks said she gave birth to her daughter, Olive, in March.

She has retained an attorney.

— Los Angeles Times